Most industrial hydrolysis of fats and oils is carried out by the Colgate-Emery process of variations thereof, which splits the triglyceride esters by high pressure steam. [See, for example, Barnaby, et al. (1984), J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 25:95-99.] Proposals have been made to replace this type of process with gentler and less energy-intensive enzymatic process. In particular, it has been proposed to use lipases for hydrolysis of fatty acid triglycerides. [See, for example, Linfield, et al. (1984), J. Am. Oil. Chem. Soc., 61:191-195, and 1067-1071.]
The use of lipases for enzymatic hydrolysis of triglyceride fats and oils has been reviewed by Hammond, and Glatz pages 205-209, in "Food Biotechnology-2" (King and Chetham, eds., Elsevir Science Publishers, 1988). Very few enzymatic processes have gained commercial acceptance. Temperature sensitive oils, such as castor oil, which may be degraded by the high temperatures usually employed for steam hydrolysis have been commercially processed by lipases. [See Sonntag (1979), J. Am. Oil. Chem. Soc., 56:729A; and Macrae (1985), Biotech. Genetic. Eng. Rev., 3:193-217].
Lipase preparations can be obtained from various grains and seeds: Hassanien, et al. (1986), J. Am. Oil. Chem. Soc., 63:893-897. Oat seeds are especially rich in lipase. The processing of oats usually begins with a steam treatment of the caryopses obtained after dehulling to deactivate the lipase. [See Hammond, E. G., "Oat Lipids", Chapt. 16, in "Lipids in Cereal Technology", Barnes, ed., 1983, Academic Press, London.] Oat lipase has been reviewed by Martin, et al. (1953), Biochem., 55:523-529. Much of the lipase is on the surface of the oat caryopses, being removable by wet scrubbing of the caryopses surfaces.